The treatment of older bipolar patients differs from the treatment of younger patients [1]. Up to 25 percent of all bipolar patients are elderly [2], and the absolute number of geriatric bipolar patients is expected to increase as the world’s population ages over the next several decades [3,4].

This topic reviews the general principles of treating geriatric bipolar disorder. The epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical features, assessment, diagnosis, acute treatment and prognosis, and maintenance treatment of geriatric bipolar disorder are discussed separately, as are the epidemiology, clinical features, diagnosis, acute treatment, and maintenance treatment of bipolar disorder in mixed-age patients.

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Bipolar disorder: The management of bipolar disorder in adults, children and adolescents, in primary and secondary care. NICE clinical guideline 38. July 2006. http://guidance.nice.org.uk/CG38 (Accessed on August 16, 2011).

Sajatovic M, Paulsson B. Quetiapine for the treatment of depressive episodes in adults aged 55 to 65 years with bipolar disorder. March 1-4, 2007. American Association of Geriatric Psychiatry Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA.